Question for moms of school-age kids. I'm just curious about when homework gets done at your house. Do your kids do it right after school, after snack but before dinner, before or after whatever afterschool activities your kids might be involved in, after dinner, just before bed .... etc. I know some parents who insist homework is done immediately after school, some who set aside time after dinner, some who don't care as long as it gets done. I'm in the latter group myself, doesn't matter to me when as long as it's done but not 5 minutes before bedtime! lol. And do you have a *homework station*? I know of moms who have an area in the house set aside just for homework,with pencils and crayons and other supplies like that, and some who have homework boxes and the kids are not allowed to use those supplies at any other time. Not me, I couldn't care less where it's done or which pencil is used. But hey, whatever works ...

No bashing please, just a few random questions here I'm curious about. Thanks.

Replies

We get home from school about 3. They have a snack, play outside our just chill out inside until about 4. Then it's homework time.

We don't have a homework station but i have a small plastic container that has paper, pencils, crayons, glue sticks and whatever other school supplies. They do homework at the kitchen table and pull out the box everyday.

We give them the freedom to actually choose when to do their homework. My teen daughter chooses to do her written work prior to dinner and her reading and studying prior to bed. She said then the words she reads or studies seem to remain in her memory longer. Our teen son chooses to do his right after he gets home so he has time to see his friends.

by Anonymous 11

September 28, 2012 at 11:09 PM

she just started kindergarten and she does homework when she comes home at her table.

Usually, he'll get home and have a snack and juice. I let him either relax or go outside and play for about 20-30mins. We'll work on the work and if starts getting antzy, super side tracked or lazy, we eat dinner and then go back to it.

It depends on the day. My son goes to BJJ at least 3 times a week. So here's how we do it:BJJ days: Get picked up from pre-k, go to BJJ, come home eat dinner, do homework as soon as the table is cleaned offNon-BJJ days: Come home, go potty, grab a snack/drink and do home work right away. I always say, better to get it done and over with right away than having to worry about having to do your homework, plus it's easy to forget homework sitting in a book bag when you're playing and stuff.

As my son was growing up he attended the Montessori school our family helped to found. Generally there was no homework so we enjoyed short afternoon visits to the zoo and local museums or galleries, we walked in the Forest Preserves, and had long afternoons messing about in the kitchen...the point of this is to say that as parents I encourage all of you to demand that the schools do the job of academic learning on their own time and not intrude on what should be precious family time! There is little or no absolute scientific correlation between homework and mastery of any academic study and while certain skills such as reading, math, and spelling improve with practice there are so many better ways to hone those skill than homework. With little or no homework we enjoyed time to read for the sake of pure enjoyment, do projects, visit the public library; all of which helped with reading practice. Other skills also can be developed and improved through the normal activities of family life and a strong family life helps to build a good foundation for the more challenging teenage years.

As soon as they walk in the door they sit down and do their homework. I have 4 children and have used the same method with all of them. My teenagers do their home work without me even asking. They walk in and head to the dinning room table. The same with my 1st grader. My kindergartner does the same but he asks every 5 minutes if he can be done with home work. LOL He will learn..

It depends on the kid and their needs. We have 3 kids of our own (2 are in school) and then we have 4 girls that we help care for. My daughter and the oldest girl both rarely have homework unless it's a school project so no real worry there. My son who is 11 for the most part can do his whenever he likes within a resonable time (meaning don't wait till i say bed time then whine that you have homework.) and his grades we don't stress about when he does his. He's made straight A's pretty much since second grade so no real worries. The middle girl now is 10 and she's our hardest one. She has to be made to do her's almost as soon as she gets home. She gets a snack and gets to rest for a few minutes then it's homework time. We also check if she says she doesn't have any and we check her work when she says it's done because she has a huge problem with lying about homework. Then we have 8 year old twins who for the most part don't need to be hounded, we ask them when they come home if they have any and if they do we tell them to eat a snack then finish their homework before they go play and for the most part they're pretty good about getting it done. Our youngest is 3 so she's not in school yet.